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Yesterday was an up-early-and-go-do-things before jumping on a sleeper train. Nine hours and very little sleep later, we arrived in Xian and, subsequently, our hostel, at about 8am. Dropped our things and proceeded to go right back out again. Why?
Well, we're only in Xian for a day, and this happens to be the home of the Terracotta Soldiers.
After a minor incident figuring out how the heck to pay for a ticket get on the bus to that area (answer: get on bus, sit down, pay person as she comes down the aisle), we were on our way and, about an hour later, there we were.
The ticket office.
Bought the tickets, and then started the long, long trek up many slopes and steps and paths to the pits and museums. Later on we figured that the reason the entrance is so far away from the actual area is because, since they have no idea how much more is buried, they're hedging their bets.
The soldiers were...indescribable, really. The details, the intricacies, the differences--it's true that these really were of people. The faces were different from statue to statue, the clothing varied, the types of people varied; heights, sloping shoulders, bowed knees--all of that. It was crazy. I took...many, many pictures, thought none of them really do any justice to seeing it it person. People made these things. Thousands of them. And though we've found an army, a few stables, and a bird menagerie, we didn't find other things that an emperor would most certainly have, such as harem quarters, eating areas, larger menageries, and libraries. This man had his entire kingdom recreated in a tomb below ground. If he went so far as to have his stable boys (and it was clear from those statues' heights and faces that they were children) recreated, he definitely would have done the rest of his kingdom. Chances are that there are hundreds or thousands of pieces we haven't even found yet. Forget chance--it's assured; the site was only discovered in 1974. They've only been excavating for a few decades. Parts of Pit No. 1 (the biggest one, with the over 6,000 soldiers in it) were curtained off because they're in the middle of working through it. That's incredible.
The emperor was totally looney tunes, by the way.
Anyway, yes. Pictures to come soon.
After arriving back at the first bus stop, we decided to walk around, since we'd hoped to get to this antique market that is supposed to be in a particular area. After a while of walking around and not finding anything though, we just started back to the hostel instead.
On the way, we noticed a bunch of food vendors all around this one particular ally and decided to take a look. Turns out that alley was one of the places for Xian's new year celebration. Lots of vendors (food and otherwise), music, even a Hindu prayer area. I had been wanting a calculator, so after some looking around, we ducked into a vendor's booth that sold things like office supplies and the like.
Ended up finding two calculators, both small (pocket-size; the one I'd brought with me that broke was a keychain, but pocket size wasn't to big to travel with). The one I liked and decided I wanted to get had a fold-over cover, so it was a bit less likely to get battered so quickly. When we asked how much it was though, the woman at the shop said 45RMB.
Pft, no, that's. No. So I shook my head and started to walk away, and she dashes after us waving her calculator, telling me to make an offer. A-hah! The haggling has begun. Now, I have no idea how much this sort of calculator would go for in China, and neither did Brittany. I mean, I could pick up a regular-ish one at a dollar store, but this did fold over and was nicer? Still, 45RMB was way, way too much. So I offered 8. She offered 40. I offered 12. 38 from her, 18 from me, 33 from her, 20 from me, she makes the "oish what are you doing to me" face and calls over to her boss to make her next offer (a signal you're getting a good deal, when they have to ask their 'supervisor' for permission to go lower), which is 30. I offer 25, she has another word with her boss and ends at 26. That's good enough for me. Pay her the 26RMB and get a smile and a thumbs up from her, which was amusing. I think that maybe they aren't really used to Westerners actually haggling with them, at least not to driving real bargains? And yeah, even with the conversion I probably would have paid less for it in the US, but I had a lot of fun with it, which made the experience (and the calculator) worth it for me.
And I saved 19RMB (which I later spent on a delicious drink), so. Good fun all around. I'm really pleased with the experience. It's cool to think back on. And yay haggling! Getting the hang of it, I am. I think. I hope?
In another booth, Brittany found a mahjong set that she really liked, and got it. She asked for a break too, and paid 90RMB from 98RMB. Considering she was willing to pay the 98RMB from the start...heh. Not bad. So we each ended the day with something cool, that we enjoyed. I think it's experiences like this, places and meetings like this, that make people say that they love China and Chinese culture. I can see why people love the country and culture, if this is all of what they know about it. It isn't what most of modern day China is, however, and I don't think that without either living here or being here for a long enough time to really see the behind what-China-makes-sure-people-see, one can really understand that.
Anyway, back to the day, we went back to the hostel and got delicious veggie burgers for dinner, and had hot expensive coffee drinks while I typed this up and Brittany taught me to play Mahjong. And so was our time in Xian. We catch a plane for Nanning at 12:30pm tomorrow, so we won't have a lot more time here, but for experiencing a city, this was a good way to do it. Not bad, not bad at all.
Edit: After a little more thought, and attempting to look stuff up(, and the use of my new calculator!) I realized that I essentially bargained the saleslady from $7-and-change to $4.15. And that this is a pretty nice calculator; clamshell style, both solar-power and battery options, came with a case...it's definitely not a dollar-store calculator. I made a good deal!
Well, we're only in Xian for a day, and this happens to be the home of the Terracotta Soldiers.
After a minor incident figuring out how the heck to pay for a ticket get on the bus to that area (answer: get on bus, sit down, pay person as she comes down the aisle), we were on our way and, about an hour later, there we were.
The ticket office.
Bought the tickets, and then started the long, long trek up many slopes and steps and paths to the pits and museums. Later on we figured that the reason the entrance is so far away from the actual area is because, since they have no idea how much more is buried, they're hedging their bets.
The soldiers were...indescribable, really. The details, the intricacies, the differences--it's true that these really were of people. The faces were different from statue to statue, the clothing varied, the types of people varied; heights, sloping shoulders, bowed knees--all of that. It was crazy. I took...many, many pictures, thought none of them really do any justice to seeing it it person. People made these things. Thousands of them. And though we've found an army, a few stables, and a bird menagerie, we didn't find other things that an emperor would most certainly have, such as harem quarters, eating areas, larger menageries, and libraries. This man had his entire kingdom recreated in a tomb below ground. If he went so far as to have his stable boys (and it was clear from those statues' heights and faces that they were children) recreated, he definitely would have done the rest of his kingdom. Chances are that there are hundreds or thousands of pieces we haven't even found yet. Forget chance--it's assured; the site was only discovered in 1974. They've only been excavating for a few decades. Parts of Pit No. 1 (the biggest one, with the over 6,000 soldiers in it) were curtained off because they're in the middle of working through it. That's incredible.
The emperor was totally looney tunes, by the way.
Anyway, yes. Pictures to come soon.
After arriving back at the first bus stop, we decided to walk around, since we'd hoped to get to this antique market that is supposed to be in a particular area. After a while of walking around and not finding anything though, we just started back to the hostel instead.
On the way, we noticed a bunch of food vendors all around this one particular ally and decided to take a look. Turns out that alley was one of the places for Xian's new year celebration. Lots of vendors (food and otherwise), music, even a Hindu prayer area. I had been wanting a calculator, so after some looking around, we ducked into a vendor's booth that sold things like office supplies and the like.
Ended up finding two calculators, both small (pocket-size; the one I'd brought with me that broke was a keychain, but pocket size wasn't to big to travel with). The one I liked and decided I wanted to get had a fold-over cover, so it was a bit less likely to get battered so quickly. When we asked how much it was though, the woman at the shop said 45RMB.
Pft, no, that's. No. So I shook my head and started to walk away, and she dashes after us waving her calculator, telling me to make an offer. A-hah! The haggling has begun. Now, I have no idea how much this sort of calculator would go for in China, and neither did Brittany. I mean, I could pick up a regular-ish one at a dollar store, but this did fold over and was nicer? Still, 45RMB was way, way too much. So I offered 8. She offered 40. I offered 12. 38 from her, 18 from me, 33 from her, 20 from me, she makes the "oish what are you doing to me" face and calls over to her boss to make her next offer (a signal you're getting a good deal, when they have to ask their 'supervisor' for permission to go lower), which is 30. I offer 25, she has another word with her boss and ends at 26. That's good enough for me. Pay her the 26RMB and get a smile and a thumbs up from her, which was amusing. I think that maybe they aren't really used to Westerners actually haggling with them, at least not to driving real bargains? And yeah, even with the conversion I probably would have paid less for it in the US, but I had a lot of fun with it, which made the experience (and the calculator) worth it for me.
And I saved 19RMB (which I later spent on a delicious drink), so. Good fun all around. I'm really pleased with the experience. It's cool to think back on. And yay haggling! Getting the hang of it, I am. I think. I hope?
In another booth, Brittany found a mahjong set that she really liked, and got it. She asked for a break too, and paid 90RMB from 98RMB. Considering she was willing to pay the 98RMB from the start...heh. Not bad. So we each ended the day with something cool, that we enjoyed. I think it's experiences like this, places and meetings like this, that make people say that they love China and Chinese culture. I can see why people love the country and culture, if this is all of what they know about it. It isn't what most of modern day China is, however, and I don't think that without either living here or being here for a long enough time to really see the behind what-China-makes-sure-people-see, one can really understand that.
Anyway, back to the day, we went back to the hostel and got delicious veggie burgers for dinner, and had hot expensive coffee drinks while I typed this up and Brittany taught me to play Mahjong. And so was our time in Xian. We catch a plane for Nanning at 12:30pm tomorrow, so we won't have a lot more time here, but for experiencing a city, this was a good way to do it. Not bad, not bad at all.
Edit: After a little more thought, and attempting to look stuff up(, and the use of my new calculator!) I realized that I essentially bargained the saleslady from $7-and-change to $4.15. And that this is a pretty nice calculator; clamshell style, both solar-power and battery options, came with a case...it's definitely not a dollar-store calculator. I made a good deal!
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no subject
And yeah, well IT IS KIND OF THE PLANE TICKET. I will make it a goal though! Well, after I uh...find a stable job and all that. I'll start saving up for travel because I want to go to a lot of places. Instant Transmission, want more than ever.
OYBRO IS 17. Turning 18 in like, 2 weeks!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! YYBro is like,....turning 15? IDEK. WHAT EVEN IS TIME.
....Couldn't we celebrate the new year in Taiwan instead? THAT WOULD BE GOOD TOO.
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WHAT. WHAT NO. HOW IS HE TURNING 18. HE WAS A BABY. HE IS A BABY.
...omg. Yuwen. Your OYbro is going to be the same age as my sister. Who is also 18. Which...I also have trouble believing, actually.
We could totally celebrate in Taiwan instead, that is cool with me. NEW PLAN.
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ALSO WHAT EVEN OUR SIBLINGS HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE
TAIWAN SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD PLAN LETS DO THAT
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I KNOW THEY ARE BABIES HOW IS THIS HAPPENING.
YBRO IS GETTING BUFF NOW. IT IS NOT COOL IN THE LEAST.
AWESOME GOOD PLAN TAIWAN IT IS. You realize that is exactly how Mina and I ended up going to Japan together?
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TAIWANNNNN. I'm not gainfully employed like either of you though. Si uh, plans will take work.
no subject
Hey, so not against plans taking work or being cheaper. I have just spent a lot of money, obviously.
no subject